Other remark: The old shop I have this Baozhong from does do a little hong pei to smoothen the edges and help keep its freshness longer. Of course, the hong pei is much lighter than for a Luanze oolong, and does reduce the intense fresh smell of baozhong a little. However, my tasting of the intense summer jinxuan showed that too much 'green' fresh taste can upset the stomach and doesn't produce a nice feeling in the mouth or throat. This baozhong is able to keep its fresh feeling for a longer time of 2-4 months (store it in a fresh, dry and odorless place) and is both pleasant to the nose and to the mouth. It is the clear winner of this one-on-one tasting!

Other remarks: This is a very green tea, which can cause stomach ache if brewed too concentrated. The bitterness is a mark of the summer harvest. That's why few tea sellers admit to sell summer tea, since it is less good than spring or winter harvests.

Jinxuan oolong shines through its fresh flavors, whereas Luanze oolong has a deep, long-lasting taste. Nowadays, the Taiwanese oolong market preference tends to go toward a pleasing nose rather than nice taste. (A reason why farmers like jinxuan is that it grows quicker and can be harvested up to 5 times a year. 3 for luanze oolong). However, my tasting of Luanze and jinxuan oolong makes me prefer my selected Luanze oolong. I may add that most professionals I have met also prefer the traditional Luanze oolongs. So, can this jinxuan beat wenshan baozhong?

Other remarks: I eventually found an oolong I like this spring 2005! And what a good one! It wasn't that easy with all the snow that fell at the end of winter, just before the spring harvest, in the Central mountains of Taiwan. That's probably why this is a Dong Ding oolong, located at just 700 meters below sea level. It's not a high mountain tea. They start around 1000 meters altitude.

The Dong Ding oolong, especially the Luan ze kind, is the more traditionnal oolong, the one professionals, tea masters appreciate most. One seeks the smooth feeling it leaves in the mouth and throat, and not so much the flowery, fresh notes that are one finds in jin xuan oolong, high mountain oolong and baozhong.

Like the previous Luan ze oolong, this one will perform even better in an yixing teapot. I drink this tea on Saturday nights. Its cha chi is so strong that it keeps me happily awake to enjoy long conversations with friends.

I am quite relieved I found this real and excellent Dong Ding Luan ze oolong for my readers to taste classic Taiwan oolong.

A. ViewAspect of Dry leaves: With stems.Color of Dry leaves: Dark green to brownColor of tea: Dark yellow to orange.Clarity: Good. Few residues.Aspect of open leaves: Red on the outside. Mostly hand picked.

C. Taste: Sweetness: yes, but not too much.Lingering sweetness: MediumBitter/acid: Towards the end, some astringency on the teeth.Feeling in the throat: Dry, with peach feeling.Lingering dry feeling: medium to strong.

Other remarks: The hong pei (baking) reaches 70%. Made by an older producer this tea is baked over wood charcoal, not in an electric oven like most do nowadays. This tea is very good to feel and study the 'magic of hong pei'.Luan Ze oolong will taste even better in an yixing teapot, where the yun (the dry feeling in the throat will be rounder and very pleasant.)

For me, this is a very good oolong in its category. Bought in a shop, this tea would be called "Dong Ding' oolong. I drink it during the week and at any time. Since it's quite fermented and baked, it won't give a stomach ache (like some green oolongs).

Friday, July 22, 2005

It happened yesterday, in the middle of summer, and caught most by surprise. China had said so many times they wouldn't change the peg, like a matter national pride. Now it will only be allowed to move 0.3% per day, but this is the first step with which China's currency will slowly rise against the dollar.

Don't expect tea prices to rise all of a sudden, but definitely the trend points to higher prices in the long term as China's economic strength unfolds like oolong in a gaibei. I was not the only one to have predicted it, but I am glad I said it before in this blog.

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Now that some of my readers have received tea from me, it may be a good thing to remind you how to taste a tea for the first time.

It's summer time now, a time when many people go the beaches to sunbath, play, swim and date. The beach is indeed a good place for dating and meeting your partner. (When young, I ... OK, I'll spare you!!) The advantage of the beach is that boys and girls go there without any makeup and hardly any clothes. The little which is covered is straightforward to guess. Under the natural light of the sun, we show ourselves as we are. It's often amazing to see how the same girl, in the evening, can have a totally different impact on you depending on what she wears, the lipstick she uses, and the scent she wears. Depending on her skills and your taste (or lack of!), you may fall for her or not.

With tea, the beach is the porcelain gaiwan (gaibei in Taiwan) and the bar is the clay teapot.

For your first tastings, I recommend that you use the most scientific, rational and neutral tool: the gaibei. This is what professionals do and how Teaparker taught me to study a tea. The advantages are:

- the taste is not very much influenced by the gaiwan,- it's easy to open the lid of the gaiwan and smell the lid to evaluate if the tea is ready,- you can also look at the color of the tea that floats over the lid. The color will darken as the tea brews,- the leaves open under your eyes and are easier to see and study.- the gaiwan is easy to empty and clean.

The drawbacks are:

- Making good tasting tea in a gaiwan is harder than in a good teapot. - It's easier to burn your fingers or make a big mess when pouring the tea out.

Here my little advices on how to make good tea with the gaiwan:

1. Pre-heat your gaiwan and its lid with hot water. Then the cups.2. Make sure it's well pre-heated. Don't wait too long before making the tea now.3. Use just boiled water,4. Pour the first water with a strength in harmony with the tea you're making. It goes from very soft at a small distance from the gaiwan in case of green tea, to a up and down movement for oolong.5. For the next brews, once the tea has opened up, pour the water in a circle on the rim of the gaiwan. Not on the leaves directly. Like this, all the leaves will receive water that has the same temperature.

You'll know you have a good brew when the leaves fill the gaiwan in harmony like the oolong below. (But you don't necessarily need so many, especially for pu er).

And later, once you know your tea, then you can brew it in a teapot and enjoy it thoroughly!

I have received news that my packages have arrived. Travel time was between 3 (!) and 6 days. Cindy at Cup of Tea and a Blog wrote a little about it July 19th: "I’m also reallyreallyreally excited about a special box of puerh and tea samples that I received from Stephane over at Tea Masters blog. I’ll be sampling and writing about these for quite a while."

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Last Saturday, before the Typhoon, we had wonderful blue sky. The coming typhoon had blown all the clouds away, like usual. So I made a few shots with my yixing teapot, my old, wild, raw YiWu Tuo Cha of 1985 and a 60 year old tea cup.

The hole you see in my tuo cha is proof that I am drinking it! I do have to hurry up taking pictures, because it's so good I may not let it age much longer. I shall post more precise tasting notes soon, but today I will post more of the beautiful pictures I took.

The typhoon Taitang has weakened into a depression. This means normal rain now the whole day over Taipei. We've had a rough night from Sunday to Monday. A few trees fell in our neighborhood, but the damage seems much less compared to previous typhoons of this strength. Thanks to you who have e-mailed me or thought about Taiwan when you heard about the news.

Sunday, July 17, 2005

This yixing teapot is already 7 years old and made with grinded zi sha stone. This kind of good material is progressively being used up in Yixing as its factories manufacture millions of teapots every year. So, in case of yixing teapots, it makes more sense to buy old rather than new.

Teaparker even suggests to buy those made early this century, but they are not easy to find and not very cheap either.

This particular one was made by Xi Mei Hua. Under the lid, you can read his first name, Mei Hua.

It is rather a large pot in my collection: 170 ml. And it weighs 200 gr. As I wrote yesterday, I dedicated this teapot to old pu er. I could also have used a zhu ni hu pot. But the characteristics of this zi sha pot are somehow similar to the zhu ni hu, as its walls are quite thick.

The teapot came in this solid wooden box. A small red tea towel was placed above the teapot to protect it well against shocks. I am quite confident that with its thick walls and solid box it can travel the world in a parcel.

One can also test the quality of the teapot by carefully touching its rim with the lid. My teapot will give a high pitched sound, sign it was baked at high temperature. Bad quality pots are baked at lower temperatures and sound a low pitch. The baking temperature will have an effect on how well the teapot is able to handle the boiling water. This is the kind of test that shop owners don't like. It's like playing with something fragile that doesn't belong to you. Only do this if you are really serious about purchasing the teapot.

Friday, July 15, 2005

I am happy about all my readers. Be they from Alsace, where I was born and raised, the US, where I studied, or Asia where I live. However, there is a special place in my heart and soul for Israel, where I stayed 3 months in the spring of 1994. I was a volunteer in the Kibbutz Dovrat, near Afula. From my room, I could see Mount Tabor on the right and Nazareth on the left! It was the best time of my life.

I see I get 1% of Hebrew visitors and I wanted to say to them: Lamadti ketsat yivrit! Israelim haverim sheli! in broken hebrew. Actually, my coming to Taiwan owes much to my experience in Israel. It's because I could learn Hebrew quickly there that I found confidence enough to go to Taiwan and learn Chinese! Toda Raba, Israel.

Thursday, July 14, 2005

I find myself drinking green tea more ofte now in summer than in winter. Almost every noon I will drink either japanese sencha, matcha or Chinese Bi Lo Chun, Long Jin or young green pu er. These teas bring freshness to the heavy and hot Taipei. They were the theme of the Teaparker's class I missed last Sunday.

I take showers each time I come back home and the air con runs the whole night now. But no A/C when I drink tea, I just want to feel the breeze of a fan.

Yesterday, however, I chose to drink my old Baozhong from the 60's, a tea almost as black as coffee. Maybe I got tired of the green tea and wanted some change in my routine. The result surprised even myself. The mellow warmth of this old tea, baked anew year after year, calmed me down. And when you're calm, you also cool down.

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

During my latest class with Teaparker, we tasted high mountain oolong tea Teaparker just brought back from Burma. I would like to call it a libertea, but this great name is already taken by an online merchant. Why? Because this tea is made by the Chinese Wa clan. They are what remains of the Nationalist army of the Yunnan province which chose to escape to Burma's high and inpenetrable mountains rather than surrender to the Communists in 1948/1949. This fact should earn them the esteem of many in the free world. Unfortunately, the burmese junta (still in place) never allowed them to settle down in the low lands. They had to keep hiding and sometimes fighting in the mountains west of Yunnan. For a long time, their only real source of income there was opium! Yes, probably like in underdeveloped Afghanistan, they had to turn to poppies in order to survive autonomously at 1500 to 2000 meters altitude.

But they want to come out clean, now! After unprofitable attempts with other crops, they are trying now to make a living with high mountain oolong tea. Teaparker has visited them and posted an article with pictures on his site. They started 4-5 years ago and can produce 20 tons of tea per year now. Their equipment is the same as in Taiwan and the trees, too. That's because a few ROC (Republic of China - Taiwan) tea farmers have agreed to help them and invest there. One such experienced farmer is also there to manage the plant where the leaves are processed.

We tasted 2 of their latest teas of 2005: the summer oolong (right) and the spring oolong (left in the gaiwan). You can see at the large size of the leaves that the elevation of the plantation is high (1700 meters approx.) We compared them with oolong from neighbour Thailand and found it already superior.

The dry leaves of the summer oolong looked quite dark. The dry smell reminded me of lavender! Unfortunately, summer is not the best season for oolong and the tea was indeed more astringent than what I'm used to.

Their spring oolong (above) displayed much better characteristics. The leaves are of a nice green and display a low level of oxidation. Smell was pleasant, but not exceptional. The yun, the aftertaste in the mouth and throat, was weak but could be improved by using a clay teapot. While not on the same level as good high mountain oolong from Taiwan, this tea does have some of its characteristics.

Teaparker has asked me to see if there is a foreign distributor interested in selling this tea as Golden Triangle oolong in North America or in Europe. He wants to help these very poor Chinese escape the dangers of the drug business. Just write to me and I'll give you his contact email. I would help make initial contacts, but I wouldn't take part in the actual business or make any money from it.

There are several ways I can think of to promote this tea:- "Grown on former poppy fields, this oolong will make you high" Market: former junkies,- "Drink Golden Triangle Oolong, the Freedom tea". Market: Republican neo-conservative,- "Golden Triangle Oolong: quench your thirst and help the poorest tea growers". Market: Left wing Demorat.- "Proven 100% environment friendly and no chemicals added: Golden Triangle Oolong." Market: Green party (They can't afford chemicals and only use natural cow shit as fertilizer!)- "Say no to drugs, say yes to Golden Triangle Oolong". Market: Concerned parents.

Just don't do what Chinese businessmen will probably do (or are already doing) with this tea: "Cheap Taiwan high mountain oolong!" A latest report on TV this weekend said that 70-80% of Taiwan's tea contains foreign tea from China, Vietnam(..) to cut costs! It goes without saying that I go through the trouble to buy my teas only from the most trusted sources I can find!

Monday, July 11, 2005

Sorry! No time for a long post today. Instead, here is a preview of 2 very fine things I'll report on in more detail soon: a 1985 Tuo Cha (250 gr) made of first grade pu er. Hummmm... and a fine Yixing teapot.

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

The first obvious trick is to transform green in black pu er by fermenting the cake at full speed, that means with lots of water and at high temperatures. Methods vary. It can be done by the producer with his tea before pressing it to a cake or by the middleman who sprays water on the face of the cake to let mold appear within a week.

Then, the forger will make the wrapping paper look older and worn off. Printing the same characters is the easier part. Some sun tan and rough handling in a cool dryer will make the paper look old, I guess. But how about the little holes in the paper? Teaparker told us this secret too: spray some water mixed with a little sugar on the paper and place it where some ants pass by. Within a few days they will have completed the job. The older you want it, the more sugar you add. Et voilà!

But there is one thing the forger have not paid much attention, yet. It's the bamboo leaves that wrap the qi zi bing, the seven round pu er cakes. Teaparker showed us a picture of a real 80 to 100 year old pu er package. -It belonged to a very old Chinese who had already passed away. The tea was not for sale and the person was not a tea merchant. This makes is credible.- What we noticed is that the bamboo leaves also presented signs of aging. Like the wrapping paper, they too started to be 'bitten away' by time. But what was more striking was their color: gold brown, like what one expects old wood to look like. They were shining under the sun as if they had been polished!

The whole lesson became even more interesting when he then took a taiwanese book about old pu er. Here were pictures of pu er claiming to be 40, 50, 60 years old. More interesting then the tea itself was the picture of the bamboo leaves. The tea did look old, but the bamboo leaves looked as young as the leaves from this 2001 chi zi cakes.

So, another way to authentify an old pu er cake (except using Carbon 14) is to look at the bamboo leaves containing the cakes. I hope this trick stays between us. Don't tell the seller of fake old pu er how you saw it's fake! Just walk away grcefully! Even if he's also a victim of his supplier, he might complain to him and pass the information to the forger. They would then age the bamboo leaves too!

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

A fellow blog reader recently asked me to look for a medium sized bamboo tea tray. Since she was interested in my pu er, I readily agreed to explore Taiwan's market for bamboo trays. They are mostly produced in NanTou County in a place -wouldn’t you know it?- called Zhu Shan, bamboo mountain. But, like for every thing, there are also lots of Chinese made trays of lesser quality. By the way, last weekend, Taiwan TV news reported that in China even chicken eggs are copied!!! They cost half less to produce!

So, as I looked for a nice, Taiwan made, tray, I stumbled upon this beautiful 3 in 1 bamboo artifact.

1. It can be used as a solid basket to carry your tea set (teapot, cups, tea) on a trip. It would be perfect to brew tea, like I did Saturday (this yesterday's post), on top of a mountain or during a picnic.

2. You can use it as a box to gather a few teapots and cups. With its nice carvings, you may even want to display the box in your home. It will be very difficult to resist opening it up!

3. And of course, it can be used as a normal tray with filter to brew your tea and with the top to use it as a tray for the guest's cups.

Updated on November 24, 2006: The above tray is replaced by this improved version:

A green cloth with handles makes it easier to transport it around and to protect it against shocks:The carving is a little different, and a black rectangular line has been added on top of the box.The cover can be used as a service tray when you flip it upside down:You can use it to display your teaware on top of the box:And, of course, you can also use it as a regular tea tray to perform your gongfu cha: